Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by estcrh

There were so many "frontiers" being fought over during that time period it would be hard to pick one, it is possible that the backround figures represent Afghans.

With all due respect, the figures in the foreground hardly look Afghan. It seems to me that this illustration shows two residents of the Balkans locked in mortal combat. It could very well be a Montenegrin and an Albanian, and the frontier in question would then be Ottoman. The mountain people of the Balkans have a reputation of being particularly fierce. In Northern Albania they also have the nasty custom from medieval times of blood feuds (vendettas -avenge blood for blood) which can continue for generations.